1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a windshield assembly for motorcycles and more particularly to a windshield assembly having a wiper mechanism for motorcycles, three-wheeled motor vehicles and the like, and a method of assembling the windshield assembly and mounting same on a vehicle.
2. Description of Relevant Art
A windshield assembly for motorcycles comprising an upwardly extending windshield member mounted in front of a handlebar, a wiper motor attached to an upper part of the windshield member and a wiper arm for supporting a wiper blade supported pivotably from above, is known.
In such a conventional windshield assembly for motorcycles, because the wiper motor is heavy relative to the windshield member which is supported at its lower portion, it is necessary to additionally provide a motor supporting stay, and consequently it has been difficult to attain a favorable external appearance. In view of this consideration, if the wiper motor is supported directly by the windshield without the additional provision of a supporting stay, it becomes necessary to increase the rigidity of the windshield and hence to thicken the shield, thus resulting in an increase in weight, which is contrary to the demand for reduction in weight of motorcycles.
Moreover, due to the size of the wiper motor, it is desirable to suitably dispose it while taking into account mounting space and its shielding thereof from an external view. Additionally, it is preferable that a wiper switch for manually turning on and off the wiper motor be disposed in a position where switching operation thereof can be performed easily as necessary.
Furthermore, if the windshield member is mounted on a fairing member, it is undesirable with respect to working efficiency to attach the fairing member and the wiper mechanism separately to the vehicle body through separate stays, and in order to maintain the contact angle of the blade of the wiper mechanism with the surface of the shield member and the mounting angle of the driving shaft of the wiper motor at a predetermined accuracy, it is desirable to avoid disassembly and assembly of the wiper mechanism itself, and if possible, to assemble the fairing member and the windshield member together in advance. Further, if an inner panel (ornamental panel) member mounted between the fairing member and the handlebar is also assembled together with the aforesaid members in advance, it becomes possible to improve the required man-hour time for mounting such assembled members to the vehicle body.
The present invention effectively overcomes the foregoing drawbacks of the prior art while meeting the demand mentioned above.